Act Out: Annie Hall
Read scenes that set the romance in motion
Woody Allen’s 1977 film Annie Hall—which, incidentally, beat Star Wars in the Oscar’s Best Picture race—follows the up-and-down relationship between neurotic comic Alvy Singer (Allen) and the title character (played by Diane Keaton, for whom Allen wrote the role.) In the following scene, the two characters begin get to know each other following a game of mixed doubles tennis, when he hitches a ride in her VW back to her apartment. Their flirtation and chemistry then leads to a first date at a nightclub where Annie is singing and, ultimately, to their first kiss.
EXT. STREET — DAY
Cars are parked on both sides of the street as the VW rounds the corner.
ANNIE
I live over here. Oh, my God! Look! There’s a parking space!
With brakes squealing, Annie turns the VW sharply into the parking spot. Annie and Alvy get out, Alvy looking over his shoulder as he leaves the car.
ALVY
That’s okay, you… we— we can walk to the curb from here.
ANNIE
Don’t be funny.
ALVY
You want your tennis stuff?
ANNIE
Huh? Oh… yeah.
ALVY
You want your gear? Here you go.
Alvy reaches into the back of the car and takes out tennis equipment. He hands her her things. People pass by on the street.
ANNIE
(Laughing)
Yeah, thanks. Thanks a lot. Well…
ALVY
(Sighing)
Well, thanks, thank you. You— you’re a wonderful tennis player.
ANNIE
(Laughing)
Oh.
Alvy shakes hands with Annie.
ALVY
You’re the worst driver I’ve ever seen in my life… that’s including any place… the worst… Europe, United… any place… Asia.
ANNIE
(Laughing)
Yeah.
ALVY
And I love what you’re wearin’.
Alvy touches the tie Annie is wearing around her neck.
ANNIE
Oh, you do? Yeah? Oh, well, it’s uh… this is, uh… this tie is a present, from Grammy Hall.
Annie flips the bottom of the tie.
ALVY
Who? Grammy? Grammy Hall?
ANNIE
(Laughing and nodding her head)
Yeah, my grammy.
ALVY
You’re jo— Whatta yuh kid— What did you do, grow up in a Norman Rockwell painting?
ANNIE
(Laughing)
Yeah, I know.
ALVY
Your grammy!
ANNIE
I know, it’s pretty silly, isn’t it?
ALVY
Jesus, my— my grammy… n-never gave gifts, you know. She— she was too busy getting raped by Cossacks.
ANNIE
(Laughing)
Well …
ALVY
Well… thank you again.
ANNIE
Oh, yeah, yeah.
ALVY
I’ll see yuh.
ANNIE
(Overlapping, gesturing)
Hey, well, listen… hey, you wanna come upstairs and, uh… and have a glass of wine and something? Aw, no, I mean… I mean, you don’t have to, you’re probably late and everything else…
ALVY
No, no, that’ll be fine. I don’t mind. Sure.
ANNIE
You sure?
ALVY
(Overlapping)
No, I got time.
ANNIE
Okay.
ALVY
Sure, I got… I got nothing, uh, nothing till my analyst’s appointment.
They move toward Annie’s apartment building.
ANNIE
Oh, you see an analyst?
ALVY
Y-y-yeah, just for fifteen years.
ANNIE
Fifteen years?
ALVY
Yeah, uh, I’m gonna give him one more year and then I’m goin’ to Lourdes.
ANNIE
Fifteen — aw, come on, you’re. . . yeah, really?
INT. ANNIE’S APARTMENT
Alvy, standing, looks around the apartment. There are lots of books, framed photographs on the white wall. A terrace can be seen from the window. He picks up a copy of Ariel, by Sylvia Plath, as Annie comes out of the kitchen carrying two glasses. She hands them to Alvy.
ALVY
Sylvia Plath.
ANNIE
M’hm…
ALVY
Interesting poetess whose tragic suicide was misinterpreted as romantic by the college-girl mentality.
ANNIE
Oh, yeah.
ALVY
Oh, sorry.
ANNIE
Right. Well, I don’t know, I mean, uh, some of her poems seem – neat, you know.
ALVY
Neat?
ANNIE
Neat, yeah.
ALVY
Uh, I hate to tell yuh, this is 1975, you know that “neat” went out, I would say, at the turn of the century.
(Annie laughs)
Who— who are— who are those photos on the wall?
ANNIE
(Moving over to the photographs)
Oh… oh, well, you see now now, uh, that’s my dad, that’s Father — and that’s my… brother, Duane.
ALVY
Duane?
ANNIE
(Pointing)
Yeah, right, Duane — and over there is Grammy Hall, and that’s Sadie.
ALVY
Well, who’s Sadie?
ANNIE
Sadie? Oh, well, Sadie…
(Laughing)
Sadie met Grammy through, uh, through Grammy’s brother George. Uh, George was real sweet, you know, he had that thing. What is that thing where you, uh, where you, uh, fall asleep in the middle of a sentence, you know — what is it? Uh…
ALVY
Uh, narcolepsy.
ANNIE
Narcolepsy, right, right. Right. So, anyway, so…
(Laughing)
George, uh, went to the union, see, to get his free turkey, be-because, uh, the union always gave George this big turkey at Christmas time because he was…
(Annie points her fingers to each side of her head, indicating George was a little crazy)
…shell-shocked, you know what I mean, in the First World War.
(Laughing hysterically, she opens a cabinet door and takes out a bottle of wine)
Anyway, so, so…
(Laughing through the speech)
George is standing in line, oh, just a sec… uh, getting his free turkey, but the thing is, he falls asleep and he never wakes up. So, so…
(Laughing)
…so, he’s dead…
(Laughing)
he’s dead. Yeah. Oh, dear. Well, terrible, huh, wouldn’t you say? I mean, that’s pretty unfortunate.
Annie unscrews the bottle of wine, silent now after her speech.
ALVY
Yeah, it’s a great story, though, I mean, I… I… it really made my day. Hey, I think I should get outta here, you know, ’cause I think I’m imposing, you know…
ANNIE
(Laughing)
Oh, really? Oh, well… uh, uh, maybe, uh, maybe, we, uh…
ALVY
…and… uh, yeah, uh… uh, you know, I-I-I…
They move outside to the terrace, Alvy still holding the glasses, Annie the wine. They stand in front of the railing, Annie pouring the wine into the held-out glasses.
ANNIE
Well, I mean, you don’t have to, you know.
ALVY
No, I know, but… but, you know, I’m all perspired and everything.
ANNIE
Well, didn’t you take, uh… uh, a shower at the club?
ALVY
Me? No, no, no, ’cause I never shower in a public place.
ANNIE
(Laughing)
Why not?
ALVY
’Cause I don’t like to get naked in front of another man, you know — it’s, uh…
ANNIE
(Laughing)
Oh, I see, I see.
ALVY
You know, I don’t like to show my body to a man of my gender—
ANNIE
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I see. I guess—
ALVY
—’cause, uh, you never know what’s gonna happen.
ANNIE
(Sipping her wine and laughing)
Fifteen years, huh?
ALVY
Fifteen years, yeah.
ANNIE
Yeah. Oh, God bless!
They put their glasses together in a toast.
ALVY
God bless.
ANNIE
(Laughing)
Well, uh…
(Pausing)
You’re what Grammy Hall would call a real Jew.
ALVY
(Clearing his throat)
Oh, thank you.
ANNIE
(Smiling)
Yeah, well… you— She hates Jews. She thinks that they just make money, but let me tell yuh, I mean, she’s the one yeah, is she ever. I’m tellin’ yuh.
ALVY
(pointing toward the apartment after a short pause)
So, did you shoot the photographs in there or what?
ANNIE
(Nodding, her hand on her hip)
Yeah, yeah, I sorta dabble around, you know.
(Annie’s thoughts pop on the screen as she talks: I dabble? Listen to me — what a jerk!)
ALVY
They’re… they’re… they’re wonderful, you know. They have… they have, uh… a… a quality.
(As do Alvy’s: You are a great-looking girl)
ANNIE
Well, I-I-I would— I would like to take a serious photography course soon.
(Again, Annie’s thoughts pop on: He probably thinks I’m a yo-yo)
ALVY
Photography’s interesting, ’cause, you know, it’s— it’s a new art form, and a, uh, a set of aesthetic criteria have not emerged yet.
(And Alvy’s: I wonder what she looks like naked?)
ANNIE
Aesthetic criteria? You mean, whether it’s, uh, good photo or not?
(I’m not smart enough for him. Hang in there)
ALVY
The-the medium enters in as a condition of the art form itself. That’s—
(I don’t know what I’m saying — she senses I’m shallow)
ANNIE
Well, well, I … to me— I… I mean, it’s-it’s-it’s all instinctive, you know. I mean, I just try to uh, feel it, you know? I try to get a sense of it and not think about it so much.
(God, I hope he doesn’t turn out to be a schmuck like the others)
ALVY
Still, still we— You need a set of aesthetic guidelines to put it in social perspective, I think.
(Christ, I sound like FM radio. Relax)
They’re quiet for a moment, holding wine glasses and sipping. The sounds of distant traffic from the street can be heard on the terrace. Annie, laughing, speaks first.
ANNIE
Well, I don’t know. I mean, I guess— I guess you must be sorta late, huh?
ALVY
You know, I gotta get there and begin whining soon… otherwise I— Hey… well, are you busy Friday night?
ANNIE
Me? Oh, uh.
(Laughing)
No.
ALVY
(Putting his band on his forehead)
Oh, I’m sorry, wait a minute, I have something. Well, what about Saturday night?
ANNIE
(Nodding)
Oh… nothing. Not— no, no!
ALVY
Oh, you… you’re very popular, I can see.
ANNIE
(Laughing)
I know.
ALVY
Gee, boy, what do you have? You have plague?
ANNIE
Well, I mean, I meet a lot of… jerks, you know—
ALVY
Yeah, I meet a lotta jerks, too.
ANNIE
(Overlapping)
—what I mean?
ALVY
I think that’s, uh—
ANNIE
(Interrupting)
But I’m thinking about getting some cats, you know, and then they… Oh, wait a second — oh, no, no, I mean
(Laughing)
Oh, shoot! No, Saturday night I’m gonna—
(Laughing)
—gonna sing. Yeah.
ALVY
You’re gonna sing? Do you sing? Well, no, it isn’t—
(Overlapping)
No kidding?
(Overlapping)
—this is my first time. Oh, really? Where? I’d like to come.
(Laughing)
Oh, no, no, no, no, no! No, I’m interested!
ANNIE
(Laughing)
Oh, no — I mean, I’m just a-auditioning sort of at a club. I don’t—
ALVY
(Overlapping)
No, so help me.
ANNIE
(Overlapping)
—it’s my first time.
ALVY
That’s okay, ’cause I know exactly what that’s like. Listen—
ANNIE
(Interrupting)
Yeah.
ALVY
(Overlapping)
—you’re gonna like night clubs, they’re really a lotta fun.
INT. NIGHT CLUB — NIGHT
Annie stands on center stage with a microphone, a pianist behind her. A bright light is focused on her; the rest of the club is in darkness. There are the typical sounds and movements of a nightclub audience: low conversation, curling smoke, breaking glass, microphone bum, moving chairs, waiters clattering trays, a ringing phone as Annie sings “It Had to Be You.
EXT. CITY STREET — NIGHT.
Alvy and Annie walk quickly down the sidewalk.
ANNIE
I was awful. I’m so ashamed! I can’t sing.
ALVY
Oh, listen, so the audience was a tad restless.
ANNIE
Whatta you mean, a tad restless? Oh, my God, I mean, they hated me.
ALVY
No, they didn’t. You have a wonderful voice.
ANNIE
No, I’m gonna quit!
ALVY
No, I’m not gonna letcha. You have a great voice.
ANNIE
Really, do you think so, really?
ALVY
Yeah!
ANNIE
Yeah?
ALVY
It’s terrific.
ANNIE
(Overlapping)
Yeah, you know something? I never even took a lesson, either.
They stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Alvy turns Annie around to face him.
ALVY
Hey, listen, listen.
ANNIE
What?
ALVY
Gimme a kiss.
ANNIE
Really?
ALVY
Yeah, why not, because we’re just gonna go home later, right?
ANNIE
Yeah.
ALVY
And-and uh, there’s gonna be all that tension. You know, we never kissed before and I’ll never know when to make the right move or anything. So we’ll kiss now we’ll get it over with and then we’ll go eat. Okay?
ANNIE
Oh, all right.
ALVY
And we’ll digest our food better.
ANNIE
Okay.
ALVY
Okay?
ANNIE
Yeah.
They kiss.
ALVY
So now we can digest our food.
They turn and start walking again.
ANNIE
We can digest our—
ALVY
Okay. Yeah.
